8 Days to Die
by MeltedIceAngel
Summary: If his sister got picked, he would volunteer. There was no way in Hell he was letting his sister die. [ Warnings: Blood/Violence/Twincest hints ]


**Since my goal is to write things that have not been written often, I decided to take crack at a crossover. I took a look in the crossover section, tried to find shows I liked with less than 10-15 stories, then went from there. Even though I feel like this has been so overdone with other fandoms, I settled on The Hunger Games. There weren't a lot in general but once you got into completed you might as well have not even tried. **

**This won't be in the crossover section because there is nothing in this story other than the Games that are connected with THG movie. **

**Warnings: Death and violence**

**Couples: Ruffnut/Hiccup, Astrid/Hiccup (one-sided), Tuffnut/Ruffnut (very very little)**

**NOTE: This is a future AU where all of the characters are reincarnations of their past selves. To make them be 100% the same as they were to begin with would not be logical. That's why personalities have been changed a bit and relationships are different.**

* * *

Living in a world filled with bleak, lifeless people and a constant air of dread leaves one wondering what the point to life really is. For one Tobias "Tuffnut" Thorston, it was as simple as work, sleep, and repeat.

He and his family lived in the slums of District 12. Their house was built with splintered wood, their garden plots dead and un-taken care of, their furniture made from old rotted cedar, and their clothes sown from old towels and rags. If Tuffnut was to be completely honest with himself, it was fair to say all of 12 was in such a state. The entire place looked and felt like some earthly version of Hell.

Being a twin, it was a wonder that he was still alive. Most of the kids in District 12 hardly lived to see their first birthdays, so for both him and his twin to have lived to see fourteen of them, they were blessed. A horrible case of the flu had hit the district years ago, wiping out most of the population. The majority of the adults had lived, but the elderly and children went as quickly as the sickness came. He and his twin had been two of the six children of their age group to survive the epidemic.

The sickness wasn't the only thing responsible for the death of their people, starvation and dehydration were also culprits. The food rations given to families were enough to just barely keep them alive. Parents ended up having to pass on food to their children in order to keep them well fed and able to stand on their own two feet. While the food was enough to keep you alive, it wasn't enough to keep you strong and able bodied. Most of the people still living were nothing but skin and bones, he and his sister alike.

While the two of them couldn't say that had any sort of meat on their bones, they were some of the most able bodied in the entire district. They had spent a lot of time as children sparring with each other, hoping that the work put into keeping each other strong would pay off in the end. While it had, the two still had problems with how horribly brittle their bones were. It didn't take much for their bones to snap, making it so their sparring matches were light as they grew and they didn't spend a lot of time running or playing around outside like the other kids had when they were children. They never knew if their brittle bones came from the fact they had never been fed the right nuitrients to mature correctly, or if it had something to do with how rough their mother's pregnancy with them had been. Not much prenatal care out there in those days.

Either way, they were still part of the handful still able to carry buckets of water from the wells, assist in fixing up houses, and hunt for food to keep the younger children alive and well.

While the peacekeepers, the dictators stationed in their district to make sure everything was working as uniform as always, put a strict ban on leaving the fence surrounding the district, he and his sister did it anyway. The rations given to them just weren't enough and it wasn't fair to anyone.

* * *

"Did you hear that there were twins born yesterday?" Tuffnut asked, throwing a change of clothes on his sleeping sister. The girl grunted, grabbing the clothing in her hands before pushing herself out of bed.

"Yeah I did. Think they're gonna make it?" Ruffnut asked, stripping out of her night clothes before dressing herself in her every day wear. Tuffnut wasn't bothered, it's not like he hadn't seen her in her underwear before. Heck, he'd seen her naked more time than he'd care to count.

"I don't know." He replied. "If we manage to get enough food for the family then they may have a shot." Ruffnut nodded, sitting down on the edge of her bed. Tuffnut walked over to their small wooden dresser, grasping an old rusty comb and three rubber bands.

"I hope both of them do. It's so sad looking at all those kids that had a twin or sibling and they don't even know it." The blonde said, scooting over to allow room for her brother. Tuffnut sat next to her, taking the comb and running it through her slightly knotted hair.

"I know." Tuffnut replied, dividing his sister's hair into three equal sections. Every morning the blonde would take the time to braid his sister's hair, Ruffnut taking comfort in the feeling of his hands working gently with her blonde locks. It was so unlike the Tuffnut she saw later in the day, the determined one who focused on one thing and absolutely nothing else. While he had his moments, the blonde terrible at paying close attention and he wasn't exactly the brightest bulb in the box, he was attentive when he needed to be.

"The reaping is tomorrow." Ruffnut said, unable to keep the fact to herself anymore. She knew her brother had known, but she just needed to get it out into the open.

"Are you scared?" He asked, finishing off the second braid and moving to the third.

"No. I'm not afraid of anything." She responded, her brother laughing lightly.

"Me either. I don't even know what fear means." Tuffnut said, earning a chuckle from his sister. It was nice to hear a noise like that coming from Ruffnut, the girl normally not happy enough to smile or laugh.

"What does it feel like to cry again?" Ruffnut asked, recalling a point when Tuffnut had made fun of one of the neighborhood boys, who had been crying over his sick pet by asking what it felt like to cry. Now that she thought back on it, it had been kinda mean, but back then she hadn't even known if he was kidding.

"Not sure and I'm not asking that kid. Last time I did that, he hit me." Tuffnut pouted, completing the very last braid. Ruffnut smiled, grasping the braid in her hands. She'd have to see what it looked like when they were out by the stream.

"You kinda deserved it." She laughed, shoving the boy lightly.

Tuffnut shoved her back.

"Nah." He said as they walked to the kitchen. Their father had long since left to work in the mines, their mother out washing clothes. One thing Ruffnut always hated about living in 12 was that the woman was the housewife and the man worked in the mines. There was no way to get around it. The last thing Ruffnut wanted to do was spend her entire life at home cleaning.

"You get our guns and bows, I'll find something to eat." Tuffnut said, looking through their cupboards for anything remotely edible. The majority of their food was spoiled and stale, so it was practically a miracle when Tuffnut stumbled over some bread not as hard as a rock. Putting the bread down on the counter, the boy grabbed some old rotted cheese out of the fridge, scraping off a layer of mold. After that, Tuffnut cut the bread loaf and cheese in half, leaving one half out for them now then packing the other half into a pack for later.

"You find anything?" Ruffnut asked, setting their weapons down on the floor by the table. Tuffnut nodded and handed her a chunk of the bread and cheese.

"Tastes like shit." Tuffnut said, taking another bite out of the food.

"When does it not?" Ruffnut asked, shoving a bite down her throat with a grimace. Definitely didn't taste like sunshine and rainbows.

"Come on." The male twin said, finishing off his food. "We'd better go before the puppet masters do their rounds." Ruffnut nodded, tossing a silenced gun and a knife to her brother. The both of them had trained well with weapons, so neither really cared which ones they got to use. The girl kept an old bow and arrow and another silenced gun for herself.

They made their way silently to the fences outlining the district, not worrying about the plethera of people out and about. They all knew the twins broke the law by leaving, but they also knew if they kept quiet they would keep getting decent food. No one wanted to ruin that.

Even though the twins spent practically all hours of the day with each other, they could count on one hand the amount of conversations they'd had. They never felt the need to communicate through words, and they knew if they opened their mouths more kind words were not what would come out. The time spent silent would be replaced with them fighting over pointless things and that's not what they wanted.

So that's why even when they were far past the outskirts of the district, they remained silent. Speaking in their actions alone.

"If you get picked and I don't, I'm volunteering." Tuffnut said, his gun raised to a deer only a couple feet away. Ruffnut looked to him shocked, not used to her brother speaking on their hunting trips.

"You can't-"

"I will." He cut her off. "...but we don't have to worry about that. Our names are only in there once anyway."

Ruffnut nodded her head in agreement.

"...and," Tuffnut pulled the trigger. "Bam." The deer fell to the ground with a _thump_. The twins looked to each other excitedly, high fiving before going to retrieve their kill. The knowledge that the deer was going to the family of the new born twins was unspoken, but known non-the-less. They had plenty of birds and squirrels for themselves and the other citizens.

Tuffnut pointed back toward the district, knowing it was about the time the peacekeepers would finish their rounds by the fences. Ruffnut nodded, throwing the roped squirrels around her neck and assisting her brother in lifting the deer.

XXX

"You look nice." Ruffnut turned from her mirror to stare at her brother. He was the definition of formal in all his blue tuxedo glory. "They tried to get me to cut my hair again. Wasn't gonna happen."

Ruffnut laughed.

"Not surprising and...thanks." She replied. "Kinda sucks that the one day a year I get to look nice I also might be walking to my death." Ruffnut said sadly, eyes downcast.

"Don't think about it like that." Tuffnut said, taking her hair and starting to re-braid it in a more formal fashion.

"How can I not?" She asked.

Tuffnut shrugged his shoulders.

"Even if you are picked, you aren't walking to your death." He finished off her hair, placing a gentle kiss on her head. "I won't let anything happen to you."Ruffnut's eyes widened, not used to the affection her brother was showing her. Normally he would have walked in, braided her hair, and walked out. If it was a good day he would have stayed and kept her company until it was time for them to leave.

"There's are cue." Tuffnut said as the bell chimed, signaling the start of the reaping. "Let's go."

XXX

"First up, the girls." The spokeswoman said, tripping over herself as she attempted to walk in heels way too tall. She placed her hand above the glass bowl holding hundreds of names, twirling her hand over it before grasping a card. It was amazing how that one card could decide whether or not his sister was going to live or die. _No, if she gets picked I'll volunteer. She won't die._

"Rachel Thorston." Tuffnut's whole world stopped for a second. _This isn't happening. This isn't happening. _He tried to convince himself. Reality smacked him hard in the face as he saw his sister, pale and shaking, being dragged up to the podium by two peace keepers.

"Wounderful!" The spokeswoman said, clapping loudly and hugging his sister. She just stood there.

"Now, the boys." The woman said, sticking her hand in the bowl and pulling out a name. Tuffnut held his breath, knowing that no matter what he was going to be up on that podium. No one would be foolish enough to volunteer if he got picked first.

"Michael-"

"I volunteer as tribute." Tuffnut said, cutting off the woman half way through the name. She looked at him shocked, unable to believe someone from District 12 actually volunteered to be a tribute. He was the first one.

"Well, looks as if we have a volunteer." She said, motioning for him to come up onto the platform. His sister looked to him with horror and sadness. As he stepped onto the platform, he could hear his mother's screams and cries, unable to believe that now both of her children were standing up on that platform.

"Could you please tell everyone your name?" The spokeswoman asked. Tuffnut grimaced at the woman's choice in attire, way too many colors to look good on one outfit.

"Tobias Thorston." Tuffnut said, his tone giving off the illusion of unwavering confidence.

The woman gasped.

"Oh I knew you two looked alike! She's your sister isn't she?" She asked, way too excited about the fact.

"She's my twin." He said. For a second, the colorful spokeswoman seemed taken aback. It was well known in all districts that 12 had a horrible rise in infant mortality. For twins to survive to see a year was far and few, shown by how they were the only set of twins for years. It's quite possible the new set wasn't going to live now that they weren't going to be there to feed the family.

"Oh...well then. Why don't we all get a round of applause for this years tributes? Tobias and Rachel Thorston." The woman began to clap, expecting the entire audience to do so as well.

No one did.

**There is the first chapter! I hope you guys picked up on the differences with Ruff and Tuff's reincarnations but also the similarities. Let me point out a few of each:**

**Similarities****: Only set of twins in the entire area (I read somewhere there wasn't another set of twins on Berk a couple months ago), same looks, they disagree on nearly everything, they spend constant time together, they don't show love in normal ways like hugging, it's weird for one of them to show affection in such a way, they work better in a team, they do care deeply for each other even if they don't always show it.**

**Differences: Keep quiet instead of fighting, spar to keep strength up and not just to hurt the other, Tuffnut and Ruffnut are nicknames, Tuffnut braids Ruffnut's hair as a way to show affection (I've seen other fanfictions where he does this too, so credit to them!), they are skilled with all weapons, they don't let their disagreements interfere with their duties, and they have a disease called Osteogenesis imperfecta which causes them to have extremely brittle bones. (This is unknown to them and they believe it's only because of their poor nutrition.) **

**Sorry for the horribly long authors note. I just didn't want a shit load of "This is so OOC!" reviews. xD **

**xxMeltedIceAngel**


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